The Service Club
by MasterofMemory
Summary: Four students of Canterlot High find themselves in a small predicament. With no more clubs available for them to join, they are forced to create their own, dedicated to helping others.
1. Chapter 1

Walking down the hallways of Canterlot High, earphones playing music, was Icy Fire. Dressed in a grey hoodie and a sky-blue pair of jeans, she twirled her long blue hair with her white-skinned fingers as she made her way down to Vice Principal Luna's office. The PA system had crackled to life during class and had told her to come down to the office , and she was excused by her teacher to answer the call.

As she walked down the hall, she wondered why she had been called down. It was only the second week of classes, so she couldn't think of any reason the Vice-Principal would want to see her. As she arrived at the door leading into the office, she began to worry. Had she somehow gotten into trouble without realizing it? Clutching her pendant, which was metal blue-colored flame, she knocked on the door.

"Come in," came the familiar voice of Vice Principal Luna. As Icy Fire pushed open the door, she saw that there were three other people there.

One was a boy with white skin, black hair, and glasses. Dressed black pants and black leather shoes, with a blue sweater, he sat with his legs crossed. He gave Icy Fire a nod before returning his gaze to the Vice Principal.

The other was a girl she recognized to be Summer Breeze. White skin, pink hair, and a small, friendly smile on her face, she was dressed in a pink dress and yellow cardigan. She waved Icy Fire hello as she saw her enter.

The boy seated next to Summer was dressed in a black jacket and a purple pair of pants. He had purple hair and indigo colored skin. His eyes glanced up to her as she entered the room.

She took a seat next to the three others in front of Vice Principal Luna. The Vice Principal was reading a file, which she closed and placed on her table as Icy Fire took a seat.

"Ah, Icy Fire, you're here. We can now begin," she said as she clasped her pale blue hands in front of her.

"I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but this year our school has had a very large amount of new enrollees. While this is good for the school, it also means it is at it's limit. Unfortunately, this means that the clubs all of you had chosen to join, are unable to accept you. You were all rather late with enrolling, and the club rooms simply can't fit you four," she explained.

Icy Fire sighed. She had been excited to enter the drama club. She had heard it was fun, and she enjoyed acting.

Vice Principal Luna continued. "Our school policy requires that each student have some extra-curricular activity. I must admit, I am at a loss, and so is my sister, the Principal. Since you four are the subjects of this matter, I was wondering if you had any ideas?"

There was a moment of silence. It seemed none of them had ever been in this situation.

The boy with glasses raised his hand. "Vice Principal, may I ask why you are asking us? Why not the student council, or the school board?"

"Both the school board and the student council have been discussing this matter, but sadly none of them have come up with a solution," replied the Vice Principal.

Summer Breeze spoke. "Miss, isn't there anywhere you can squeeze us in?"

Vice Principal Luna shook her head. "As it is, the club moderators are complaining about how they have too many members. If you were to join any of the clubs, I'm afraid you would not be doing much."

Summer pouted. She looked over to the boy with the black jacket. "Any ideas, Frosty?"

The boy, Frosty, who had been silent so far, spoke up. Looking toward the Vice Principal, he asked, "Miss, what would the requirements be for a student to create their own club?"

The Vice Principal put her hand to her chin. "That is a very good idea. From what I understand, the only requirement would be for the founding member to either be on the Honors role or to have some form of achievement, such as representing the school in a tournament and winning it."

Frosty looked around. "Any of you have any of that?" he asked as he raised his hand.

Summer raised her hand. "Second Honors!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

Icy Fire raised her hand as well. "I'm on First Honors," she said quietly.

The boy with glasses raised his hand as well, a small, confident smile on his face. "Third Honors. I've also won several chess tournaments representing CHS."

Frosty put his hand down. "And I'm on Second Honors," he said.

Vice Principal Luna looked at all of them. "Very impressive. It seems the only problem now is what club you will create. Please remember you are not allowed to replicate any of the already existing clubs, to prevent any conflict."

They all thought for a moment. There were a number of clubs in CHS, and thinking of a new one, which had their interests, would be difficult.

The boy with glasses gave the solution. "What about a Service club?"

The Vice Principal looked at him. "How do you mean, Mind Palace?"

The boy, Mind Palace, pushed up his glasses as he spoke. "Well, why not make a club dedicated to assisting others. Given how each of us are in the Honor role, we should be able to solve any problems that people come to us with."

"I suppose that could work. I am fairly certain that that club is yet to exist," said the Vice Principal.

Mind Palace looked around. "Are all of you okay with that idea?" he asked the rest of them.

They all nodded. It seemed as good idea as any.

Vice Principal Luna nodded as well. "Very well. Things appear to be in order. I will all ask you to head over to the Head of Student Affairs office, they will have a form for you to fill out."

They all stood up.

"Good Day, Vice Principal."

"Thanks, Vice Principal."

"Thanks, Miss."

"Bye, Miss Luna!"

"Good day to you all," The Vice Principal said as she watched them walk out the door.

* * *

As the four of them walked down the hallway toward the office, they made introductions.

"My name is Icy Fire."

"I'm Summer Breeze! Call me Summer!"

"I'm Frosty Frost. Nice to meet you all."

"Mind Palace. "

As they talked, it became clear that all of them had different areas of expertise. Mind Palace aimed to improve himself, and trained his brain in all the ways he could. Icy Fire was a talented artist and actress. Summer Breeze had a wide range of interests, from music to animals to drawing, and seemed to be the best with people out of all of them. Frosty Frost was an avid gamer, and also held a love for data.

Summer Breeze and Frosty Frost were a couple. When asked, Icy Fire and Mind Palace both claimed they were single.

They reached the office, and, after a bit of explaining, were given a forum to fill our. They put their names, the name of the club, their reason for making the club, and the purpose of the club. After a small discussion, Mind Palace's name was placed on the box labeled "Club Leader", as he claiming he would be best suited for the role.

They then hit a wall when the forum asked them for the club headquarters.

"Ah, yes. We probably should have forseen this," said Mind Palace.

"What now? The entire reason we're here is because there isn't any space left anywhere," Icy Fire said as she twirled her hair, trying to think of a solution.

As they went back to Vice Principal Luna to consult her on the problem, they realized they indeed had a problem.

"I'm afraid I can't lend you any space. As I said, there are too many people as it is," said the Vice Principle.

"Do we have to have a HQ?" asked Frosty Frost.

"Yes, I'm afraid. It is written in the rules that each club must have one, even if they do not use it often," replied Vice Principal Luna.

Mind Palace bit his finger. What was the solution to their problem?

Then, it hit him.

Raising his hand, Mind Palace asked, "Vice Principal, does the club headquarters have to be within the school grounds?"

Vice Principal Luna thought for a moment. "No, I don't think it was explicitly stated in the rules. So long as it is not to far away, I suppose I can convince my sister to allow it, especially since this is a special case. Do any of you have a space available?"

* * *

The last class for the day had ended, and the four met outside the school gate as they had arranged. Club activities didn't start until next week, but since they had yet to see what would soon be their HQ, they decided to visit the site after classes.

Mind Palace had said his house, being the nearest, would be their best bet. It was a twenty minute walk from CHS, and they talked as they made their way there.

"How are people going to contact us if they need us, when our base isn't even at school?" asked Frosty Frost.

"Simple. We'll advertise our club, and people can just approach us individually whenever they need us," replied Mind Palace. "If they need us after hours, they can go to our HQ, or ask us on our blog."

"Ooh, we have our own blog?" asked Summer Breeze.

"I plan to set one up. Given the nature of our club, some people may want to contact us anonymously, for example if they're being bullied," said Mind Palace. "My house is just here."

They turned a corner, and came to a two story building with a chimney on the roof . Mind Palace pulled out a set of keys, and, unlocking the door, ushered the other three inside, closing it behind them.

They were greeted with a well furnished living room. The walls were plain white, and the floor was covered with a soft, brown rug. There was a couch and set of cushioned chairs, with a coffee table centered in between, facing a television above a fire place, which was unlit. Books were littered everywhere. There was a door leading to a kitchen at the far wall, next to a set of stairs.

Mind Palace motioned for them to lay down their things on the couch, and began to lead them towards the stairs. "Come on, the fun stuff is up here."

Up the steps, they were greeted with a three doors. Mind Palace pointed to each one.

"In front of you is a bathroom. To the right is my bedroom. This left door is my favourite," he said, opening the door on the left.

As they entered, they were greeted with a cold sensation of airconditioned air. As they peered inside, they were greeted with a sight they had never quite seen before.

To the left and right were large bookshelves, barely containing the massive amount of books they held. They wall the door they had entered from also had two smaller bookshelves, on either side of the door. On the far wall, the only wall without any bookshelves, were nine computer screens, arranged in a square. In the middle of the room, there was a table with two computers, facing away from each other.

"The computers have essential software installed on them. They have some pretty good games, too. If any of you have laptops, I can hook them up to the screens if you bring them over. Make sure to put any of the books you borrow back to were you found them," said Mind Palace, turning around to face them. "Any questions?"

They were all to busy looking at the sight before them. Icy Fire was looking over his collection of books, and Frosty Frost was booting up one of the computers. Summer Breeze was looking at the whole room.

Icy Fire turned her head to look at Mind Palace. "How can you afford all of this?" she asked?

"My parents are well off. Combined with some saving, and I built this over the course of a few years." He pushed up his glasses. "I assume you all like it?"

They all nodded vigorously.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the last day of the third week of the school year. The clubs had started activities on Monday. Every day, after classes, the school was buzzing with activity. The sports clubs dominated the grounds, the labs were packed with the science clubs, and the classrooms and hallways were buzzing with everything from the Art Club painters to the Drama Club actors.

And then, outside of school grounds, were four individuals, bored out of their minds.

Since the start of club activities, they had not received a single request. Not one cry for help, not one call to arms. Consequently, the four members of the club, Mind Palace, Icy Fire, Frosty Frost, and Summer Breeze, were confined to simply passing the time in their HQ, which had been affectionately dubbed 'The Book Room' by Icy Fire on their second time visiting there.

Each of the members were passing the time in different ways. Summer was reading one of the many books from the shelves of the room, this one being on chemistry. Frost was on one of the computers, playing a first-person shooter. Mind Palace and Icy Fire were seated on the floor, playing a game of chess.

The group had gotten to know each other more over the course of the week, and had even begun to slowly call each other nicknames. They had begun to show of their individual skills to each other, and they had each decided that, for the rest of the school year, they would be in good company.

Of course, other than that, their after school hours were much less productive than they would have hoped.

Which is why they had all perked up when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," said Mind Palace, standing up from the floor. He made his way toward the door, saying "Queen to f7, checkmate," as he exited the room.

Icy Fire, looking back down at the board, found that she had, in fact, lost the game. She sighed as she began to put the pieces back in their proper positions.

Downstairs, Mind Palace opened the door, to find a beautiful girl looking back at him. She had clean white skin and perfectly styled purple hair, and was dressed in a baby blue top, a purple skirt with three diamonds on it, and high purple boots. Mind Palace recognized Rarity, the resident fashionista of the ever popular Rainbooms.

"Hello darling, would this happen to be the headquarters for the Service Club?" she asked Mind Palace in a posh accent.

"Yep. Come in," he replied. Closing the door behind her as she entered, he motioned for her to sit down as he went up the stairs to call the others.

After several moments, they were all seated in the living room. Icy Fire, Frosty Frost, and Summer Breeze were seated on the couch, while Rarity and Mind Palace were seated from across each other, with the coffee table in between them.

After they introduced each other, though they all knew who Rarity was, said fashionista cleared her throat and began to explain her situation.

"Well darlings, you see, the members of the Fashion Club and I, along with my friends, decided we want to start the school year of with a bang. We wanted to show people that this school year would be a great one. So, we decided to make an event of sorts. We want to host a fashion show," she said.

Mind Palace thought for a moment before replying. "Very well, I think we can help you with that," he said, as he looked at the other members of the club. Frost gave a thumbs up, Icy Fire nodded, and Summer was smiling excitedly. Looking back at Rarity, Mind Palace asked, "When would you like this fashion show to be held?"

"Would this day next week suit you all?" the fashionista asked. After she saw them all nod in agreement, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I was afraid you would be unwilling to partake in such a bold project. I thank you all for your assistance," she said.

"Of course. It's the purpose of this club, after all," replied Mind Palace.

"Thank you, darlings. However, I must warn you, the Fashion Club and I will probably be swamped with all the clothes we will be making, so I must ask you to hire a few models. Is that alright?" Rarity asked.

Seeing them all once again nod in agreement, Rarity stood up. "Well, I mustn't overstay my welcome. I will let you all begin. I do wish you all luck, and once again I thank you for your assistance," she said. "Goodbye, darlings!"

After they had greeted her goodbye, Mind Palace closed the door and they all returned to the Book Room. Sitting down, they began to discuss how they would go about the situation.

"So, first person to come to us for help. We better not disappoint them," said Mind Palace. "Summer, can you go around and hire some models?"

"Sure!" replied Summer cheerfully. Mind Palace knew she would be the best out of all of them for the job, as she was the most extroverted and the best out of all of them when it came to dealing with people.

"Frost, could you talk with the Principal, make sure everything is in order? Rarity will probably already have done so, but it can't hurt to make sure," he said to Frost. The purple haired gamer loved data, and would be their best bet if Principal Celestia needed to give them facts and information about the fashion show they planned to host, such as times and dates and budgets.

"Sure thing. I'll go now, get it over with," Frost said, accompanied by a cheery Summer.

As they exited, Mind Palace turned to Icy Fire. "Flame, you're going to have the most important job of all," he said.

Flame looked at him. "Oh?" she wondered. What would be the most important job?

Grinning, he said, "You're going to be the hostess."

* * *

Three days after Rarity had requested their assistance, everything was going smoothly. The Fashion Club was working full throttle, with many outfits already complete. All the times and dates were in order, thanks to Frosty Frost. Summer had already requested the assistance of several girls, all of whom were excited to have the chance to become models. Mind Palace had also begun setting up the stage, and had convinced the Carpentry Club members to begin construction on a fashion runway.

Meanwhile, Icy Fire was in the room that the fashion club used. Since she was to be the hostess of the show, she was going to need an outfit. Currently, Rarity was taking Icy Fire's measurements with a measuring tape.

As Rarity took her measurements, Icy Fire was thinking furiously. This was the first time she had ever hosted anything. Sure, she had been on a stage before, but that was when she was acting in a play. When that was happening, she wasn't Icy Fire, she was whatever character she was acting as, be it someone timid and shy or bold and brash. That feeling of "it's not me" gave her some comfort, a shield against stage fright.

As the hostess of a fashion show, she would just be Icy Fire, plain and simple.

And it scared her.

She had always been introverted. She had friends, and she attended a few social gatherings, but she always enjoyed the comfort of being alone with her books and music. She was uncomfortable with the idea of being the focus of all the students of CHS.

Rarity noticed her look of worry. "Darling? Is everything alright?"

Icy Fire gave the fashionista a soft smile. "It's nothing, just worried."

"About the show, you mean? Dear, from what I've heard about you, you have nothing to worry about," the fashionista replied.

Icy Fire gave her a confused look. "Heard about me?"

"Oh, I had a few more discussions with Mind Palace during his free time, to iron out some details about the show. If I remember correctly, he described you as 'quite brilliant'. He thinks quite highly of you, despite what he says was the rather short time you knew each other," said Rarity, returning to her measuring.

Icy Fire smiled. She thought of herself as quite average, so it was comforting to think that someone had a high opinion of her, even if he had only known her for a short while.

Still, though she was slightly calmer, the apprehension remained. She took a deep breath. If confident Mind Palace trusted her, then she should have nothing to worry about.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mind Palace was not confident at all.

He, for the fifth time in the past three minutes, checked his notebook, where he had written the details of the show. He was currently watching the Carpentry Club work on the runway, which was on it's final stages of completion. All that was left was to add the lights along the length of the runway, and to finalize the other electronics, and everything would be set. With the several days of time they had left, there should be no problems left.

So why was he so worried?

No, he knew why he was worried. This was the first request they had ever gotten as a club, and he wanted it to be perfect. A mistake might mess up their reputation.

He ran through the entire plan in his head once again. He visualized the entire show, from beginning to end, in fast forward speed. Intro, show part one, intermission, show part two, band performance, grand finale. He envisioned the lights, the sounds, the people. Everything was in order.

He breathed deeply. He was overly worried. Everything would go as planned, and he had back up plans in place if something went wrong.

While he was thinking, Vice Principal Luna had walked into the gym. Seeing Mind Palace, she walked up to him.

"Mr. Palace, is everything going well?" she asked.

Mind Palace shook himself from his thoughts and looked up at her. "Hi, Miss. Yes, everything is going fine."

"Then, if I may ask, why do you look so worried?" asked the Vice Principal.

Mind Palace sighed. "Well, this is going to be the first activity of the Service Club. If we want to be respected as an actual source for assistance, were going to have to do this well."

"Mind Palace, I suggest you relax a little. Everything will go according to your plans."

Mind palace looked up at her. "How can you be so sure?"

"When it comes to people as such as the members of your club, I find that fortune often favours them."

Mind Palace smiled. "Thank you for the reassurance, Miss."

Luna smiled. "Of course. Good day, and good luck Mind Palace," she said.

* * *

It was time for the show. The lights in the gymnasium were dimmed, and the student body were gathered, all seated facing the runway. Behind the seats, several tables laid on which were food and drinks were prepared.

Behind the curtains, off to the side, the members of the Service Club, along with Rarity, were gathered. Frosty Frost and Summer Breeze were seated on plastic seats, along with Mind Palace, who was wearing an earpiece.

Icy Fire, who was holding a microphone, was wearing a beautiful yellow gown, and was clutching her blue flame pendant for comfort. She looked back behind her, and saw her three fellow club members and the fashionista she had gotten to know give her smiles. She smiled back, happy that her new found friends were there for her.

Mind Palace held up three fingers signaling her to stand in the center of the curtains, where they would part. Then two fingers, then one finger, and finally softly whispered, "Go."

Outside the curtains, the runway lit up with lights. Music started playing from hidden speakers. As the attention of the crowd went up to the runway, they saw the curtains part to reveal a beautiful girl in a yellow gown, her eyes closed. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, smiled, and put the microphone up to her mouth.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to the CHS Fashion Show!"


	3. Chapter 3

Summer had never realized how slow a clock could go.

It was the end of the week, which had been a largely uneventful one for the Service Club, with only the occasional student looking for help with schoolwork to hold their interest. Said students problems were handled quickly by Icy Fire and Mind Palace, who appeared to enjoy schoolwork way too much.

Times where the club wasn't together hadn't been much better. Nothing much happened besides the usual classes, and other than her usual talks with her friends, nothing interesting took place during after-class hours, either.

The week turned from an uneventful one to an amazing one when Frosty Frost asked her out on a date.

She and Frosty had been together for a while now, and she always enjoyed their dates. Frosty was always fun to be around. Her favourite dates were always the ones where they could spend time being alone together: staying indoors and playing video games with him was always one of the best things in the world for her.

Even if he always won in said video games.

Summer smiled at the thought. Another thing she loved about Frosty Frost was his geeky side. He had a love for many video games, from Dark Souls to TF2. Whatever he played, he eventually became very good at.

Said gamer had asked her out on a date a few days ago. She had been eagerly waiting the end of the week ever since.

She was currently watching the clock, waiting for it to signal the end of the class. Each second seemed like a minute, and each minute seemed like an hour. Every tick was audible, amplified in her head. Tick, tick, tick...

And finally, the bell rang.

"And don't forget your homework!" was the last thing Summer heard before she was out the classroom door, along with the rest of her classmates, and walking quickly down the hallway.

Trying not to bump into anyone, she made her way toward the main entrance of CHS, where she and Frosty had agreed to meet. Fiddling a bit of her denim jacket, which had replaced her cardigan, she weaved through the crowd of people until she opened the door to the outside.

She yelped slightly as a hand grabbed her wrist.

She turned around to find Frosty giggling, a soft smile on his face. "Hey, Summer. How are you?"

In response, Summer gently gave him a playful push. "Scared, thanks to you!" She said, smiling at him in return.

Frost rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. One of his many hobbies was sneaking up behind people. Along with his love for video games and his proficiency with data, he was very unique indeed, something Summer loved about him.

"Sorry," He said, still grinning ever so slightly. "Seriously though, how was your day?"

"It was fun," She said as they began to walk down the front steps of the school. "How was yours?"

"It was okay," He said. There was a short moment of silence before Frost gently grabbed Summer's hand. "So, are you ready for our date?" He said, smiling.

Summer tightened her fingers around his. Frost was relatively introverted, and, like many introverts, had a certain element of "I-wonder-what-he's-like". But despite this mysteriousness, it was known to anyone who knew him well that he was friendly, warm, and kind. Little actions like holding his special someone's hand proved this.

"Yes, I am." she said, smiling in return, excited for what was to come.

As they walked, Frost thought about how well this date would really go. He hoped it would, as he had spent several days planning it. He closed his eyes as he remembered the process he had went through to make this happen.

* * *

The actual idea for a date had just appeared in his head. They hadn't been on one for a while, so he thought that it would be a good idea.

The time after was the difficult part.

His first idea was a video-game-playing date. He eventually dismissed the idea. He knew that Summer enjoyed them, and he did as well, but he decided to change things slightly for this one.

He had wracked his mind for an idea. He needed a date idea that was equally fun for both of them. But what could they do? A dinner date? A movie date? A shopping date?

Then, it hit him. A date that was both similar to what they usually did, yet a new experience for them both.

He put on his jacket and went outside. He had some data to analyze.

* * *

After walking for a few minutes, they arrived at their destination.

What Summer saw made her smile.

They were at the Arcade.

The building was only one story. That being said, it was huge, as if the original building was a warehouse. The entrance had was a glass double-door, and the front wall was lined with neon lights. Through the windows they could see the array of games that were available. Everything, from fighting games to racing games were there for them to enjoy, with several people already playing them

The Arcade had opened recently. It had been in construction for a long time, and it was being talked about a lot, as a Arcade that size had never been seen before. Frost had had his eye on it for a while, and he wondered why the idea hadn't occurred to him easier.

"Oh, Frosty, this is amazing!" Summer said, giving the boy a hug.

"It's nothing," Frost said as he held open the one of the doors. "Let's go."

They were greeted by cool air and the sounds of video games as they entered the Arcade. The inside was just as flashy as the outside, with neon lights lining the corners of the walls, and the floor was carpeted, with pictures of video game characters on them. To one side, there was a small area with chairs and tables, with a few stalls selling food and drinks.

"So, Summer, what would you like to try first?" Asked Frost.

* * *

The first game they played was a Racing Simulator. They each picked a car, and tried to beat each other to the finish line.

At first, Frost was beating Summer easily. But as Summer got more and more familiar with the controls, she was eventually able to equalize the score, weaving through the cars to just grab first place, with Frost just milliseconds behind.

Next was the ever popular dance game.

In this one, Summer had a huge advantage. She was more used to moving around compared to Frost, so she had a much easier time following the quick instructions presented on the screen in front of them. After Summer had won, they took a short break, getting drinks from the diner.

Then, they decided to play a shooter game.

This was something Frost was more used to. Each of his shots was well placed and precise, hitting each of his targets exactly where he aimed. Summer's shots, on the other hand, flew wide several times. In the end, Frost's scores were way ahead of Summer's.

Afterward, they decided to play some Guitar Hero.

Despite both of them having experience with music, both in listening to it and creating their own, they did poorly on this game. Eventually, they gave up, with Frost finishing ever so slightly ahead.

Next up was the classic Tetris. Despite the simplicity of the game, both of them found enjoyment in it as they each tried to get a higher score than the other. Interestingly enough, they each got the exact same score, ending the game with a tie.

Each game they played was fun. After a while, they realized it wasn't because the games were good, although the games were in fact very fun. It was because they were playing them together.

* * *

As they took a break for some snacks, they each thought about the date they had just had.

Summer was having an amazing time. She was impressed with Frost's amazing choice for a date. She knew he probably spent a long time deciding where they would go, as it was his nature to try and perfect something if it was important to him. Plus, he had offered to pay for the entire date, and given how many games they had played, along with the drinks they had and the food they were currently eating, it couldn't have come cheap.

Frost was having just as good a time as Summer. Not for the first time during their date, he was glad everything was going well. He loved Summer, and he wanted to give her a fun date. Judging from her smiles, laughter, and general joyful demeanor, she was having just that.

Taking a bit from his food, he was glad he had had the foresight to check this place out earlier, to see if it was good. He remembered how head had taken a quick look at each game, checking their quality.

Then, he realized he had nearly forgotten something very, very important.

"Hey Summer, you mind if I go check something really quick?" He said as he began to stand up.

"Sure!" She said as she took another bite from her food. "I'll wait here."

"I'll be right back!" He said, walking down towards the games.

Summer quickly lost sight of him, losing him to the crowd of people, many of who were students, that had slowly built up as they were playing. She wondered where he was going. She looked out the window, and realized that it was night. They had spent several hours playing without even realizing it.

She sighed sadly as she realized this would mean they would have to leave soon. Though it was not a school night, Summer didn't want to worry her parents by coming home so late.

After a while, she saw Frost emerging from the crowd.

"I'm back!" he said, sitting down next to her. "Just had to check some stuff, make sure we didn't leave anything behind."

They talked for a bit, and decided to play a few more games. Eventually, they decided that it was time to go home.

* * *

As they walked, they experienced something they often experience after they go on a date: the paradoxical feeling off being both sad and happy at the same time. Whenever they had to each other, they always found that they were both sad that the moment had to end, and happy that it had happened. There was even a mix of excitement: they new many more of these moments to come.

The mix of feelings was an amazing one, and the fact that just one person made them feel it gave wonder to each of them.

Both Summer and Frost smiled. Though neither of them new it, they were thinking the same thoughts: It was amazing how, with the right person, even something as simple as a trip to an arcade could be romantic and amazing.

After as short while, the reached Summer's home. Frost had walked her to it, despite his house being nearer.

They stopped at the front door, turning to each other. "Frost, thank you for today. It was amazing!" Summer said, giving the boy a hug.

"Of course, Summer. I'm glad you enjoyed it," Frost said, returning the hug.

When they let go of each other, Frost put one hand behind his back.

"So, Summer, I haven't been entirely honest with you. I wasn't just checking whether or not we left anything behind."

Summer looked at him. "Huh?"

"I was getting you this," Frost said, presenting his hand to her.

In it was a small stuffed horse.

The toy was beautiful. It was color blue, with it's hooves being white. The mane and tail was made of dark blue yarn, and it had buttons for eyes.

Frost had gotten it from the claw machine. When he was checking out the games in the Arcade, he saw the claw machine filled with a few of these stuffed animals. He knew Summer loved horses, so he went and studied the machine, down the the amount of times the claw grabbed with 100 percent power.

"So, do you li..."

He was silenced by Summer's lips on his.

The kiss wasn't anything special. They had been together long enough for them to have shared a few kisses just like this one. To any passerby who happened to notice them, they would have seen a couple brushing lips for a brief second or two.

But to both Summer and Frost, the kiss lasted forever, something neither would give up for anything in the world.


	4. Chapter 4

It was a Monday morning, and Mind Palace was walking from his home to school. He had heard some interesting things through social media (which, despite his aversion to it, he kept tabs on) over the weekend, namely that there would be a new student attending the school. As he did with everyone he met, he planned to create basic profile of this new student, as one never knows when that information will be needed.

Looking up from his phone to cross the street, he saw Flame standing on the sidewalk, ready to cross the street.

"OH, hi Mind Palace! Did you have a good weekend?" she asked as they crossed the street.

"Yup. Not much happened, but it was quite relaxing," he replied. In truth, he often enjoyed school days as much as weekends (a quality not many people understood), so, though weekends were relaxing, they lacked the enjoyment and activities of a classroom.

"Hey, did you hear about the new student?", Flame asked as they walked through the campus gates. Of course, she knows about the new student, Mind Palace thought. Her circle of friends was much larger than his, after all.

"Yes, I did actually. I wonder what they'll be like," he replied. Looking around, he saw a student he didn't recognize. Pointing the student, a girl, out to Flame, he said, "In fact, isn't that her?"

The first thing Flame noticed about the girl she saw as her head turned was her eyes. They were a piercing green, with dark pupils. The eyes looked cold, calculating. She had seen the same look on Mind Palace whenever she played chess with him. The rest of her was just as intimidating: she was tall, with dark gray, nearly black, skin. She had dark cerulean hair, that flowed down to her back. She wore a dress, which was the same electric green as her eyes, along with a belt, which was dark cerulean, and black heeled boots, outlined with dark cerulean, same as her hair and belt. That, along with the green eye shadow, green lipstick, and black arm warmers, seemed to have one, unanimous purpose: to show that she was not to be trifled with.

This message was enhanced by her body language, which Flame picked up on quite quickly. Her posture was perfect, and she walked with purposeful but unhurried strides, like she knew what she was doing, but didn't care much. Her eyes, which Flame already noticed before, appeared to be constantly scanning everyone, scanning them from top to bottom.

As Flame analyzed her body language, Mind Palace analyzed the more obvious parts about her. After all, everyone was quite predictable: it was all this to that, cause and effect, ones and zeroes. Her makeup was perfectly applied, meaning she spent a lot of time on it. She wore the 'evil queen' style clothes very well, as if she chose them with extreme care. This meant she put heavy emphasis on social interactions. He recognized the brand of the belt she was wearing: it was a very high-quality belt, which cost quite a bit. So, social and wealthy enough to back it up. Her bag, though stylish, appeared to be next to empty, meaning she cared more for friends than doing well in academics (unless she had put her books in the lockers over the weekend, but she didn't seem to be that type of person). When she pulled out her smartphone to check the time, Mind Palace noticed the brand: it was the very expensive, overly popular type. It was popular among, well, the popular kids, but people like Mind Palace hated them: those phones were notorious for being impossible to play around with. What you saw was what you got: no rooting or hacking.

After the quick analysis, Flame turned her head back to Mind Palace. "Should we go say hi?" before he could even open his mouth ti say "no", she grabbed his arm and pulled him backward, toward the girl.

Mind Palace sighed. Figures. Though Flame kept to herself quite a bit (a trait she and Mind Palace shared), she was definitely not antisocial. She knew the importance of getting to know other people, even if she might not talk to them much afterward. Mind Palace on the other hand, would have just avoided her. There wasn't even any assurance they would meet after this.

As they reached her, Flame let go of Mind Palace. They settled to a walk alongside her for a few moments before Flame cleared her throat and said, "Hi there!"

The girl looked up from her phone (she had begun to check her texts) and replied, "Hello, who might you be?"

"I'm Flame, this is Mind Palace. What's you name?" Flame asked.

"Chrysalis," she replied. As she said it, she smirked slightly, as if savoring the sound of her own name. "I'm a new student here."

Flame smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you two as well," she replied. "I'd like to make some friends as quickly as possible. After all, connections are everything."

At this point, the school bell rang, signaling that classes were to start in five minutes. Flame and Mind Palace waved goodbye to the girl and began to walk quicker. As they hurried to their respective classes, they each thought about the girl they had just met. Though she was nice enough on the outside, even suggesting that they were friends, they both felt like they had missed something about the girl.

* * *

Come lunch time, they realized what they had missed.

When the bell rang signifying the end of lunch time, the four Service Club members met at the same table, as they had grown accustomed to doing. They struck up a small conversation, talking about the random things that popped into their head (Their conversations were often quite weird. Topics ranged from aliens to the zombie apocalypse). As they ate, the discussion moved to the new girl.

"Me and Flame met her earlier. She seemed okay." Mind Palace said, sipping his coffee.

Frost looked up from his phone (He appeared to be reading a guide. Mind Palace glanced at the screen: 'Zer0 sniper build' was displayed on it.) "Okay? Usually, when people say that, things aren't actually okay."

Mind Palace shrugged. "I don't know, something about her seemed off."

It was as at this point in their conversation that Chrysalis entered the cafeteria. She was already surrounded by quite a few people: she seemed to be the type of person who made friends quickly. As she walked towards the counter to get her meal, Derpy who had been carrying her food back to her own table, befitting her name, tripped, losing a grip on the food tray she was holding.

Unfortunately, Derpy picked that day to eat chicken, gravy, and mashed potatoes.

The tray splattered onto Chrysalis' dress, smearing it with food. Derpy looked up, and seeing what she had done, began to apologize"

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to," she said. Getting up, she moved to try and clean Chrysalis' dress up.

The look Chrysalis gave her was terrifying, at least to someone like Derpy. "Get away from me, freak! Do you know how expensive this dress it?" she said, pushing Derpy away. Derpy reddened and looked down.

"I-I'm sorry, it w-was and accident," she said, ashamed. She had always been clumsy, and it always seemed to land her in situations like this. Chrysalis looked at her, the green in her eyes taking a deadly tone.

"You better be sorry, moron. What, your eyes too screwed up for you to see where you're going?" Chrysalis said in a cutting voice. She started toward Derpy, looking as if she was about to shove her. Before she could, however, a hand grabbed her wrist.

"That's enough, Chrysalis," said Flame. During the interaction, she had made her way up towards them. She knew how these things turned out. After all, she had seen her fair share of bullies.

Chrysalis turned towards her, anger in her eyes. "Let me go. That idiot is going to get what she deserves."

"Derpy is not an idiot," Flame said, not letting go. " And I'm not going to let you hurt her."

Chrysalis considered the situation. Seeing that it would be unwise to continue, she pulled her hand free and took a step back. However, the anger in her eyes did not subside.

"You're going to regret making me your enemy," she said. With that, she turned and left the cafeteria, her group of friends following her.

* * *

After the encounter in the cafeteria, Flame had accompanied Derpy to the Principal's office, with the rest of the Club following her. They were walking from the office now, and the discussion was about the new student.

Each of them had encountered bullies before, to varying degrees. And they all hated them. To see a new one enter the school was saddening, to say the least.

"Great, a bully. As if this school needed more of them," said Frost bitterly. "I hope Principal Celestia expels her."

"Unlikely," Mind Palace replied. "It's only her first day, and she didn't do anything to warrant a full-blown expulsion. Plus, this girl seems like someone who can manipulate people to her liking. Did you see how many friends she had around her?"

Summer frowned. "So, you're saying the Principal won't do anything to her?"

"No, no. The Principal is a smart woman. She will probably keep an eye on Chrysalis for a while, meaning Chrysalis won't do anything as big as this for a while. But, once this subsides, I think we can expect more bullying."

"So, what do we do?" Flame asked. "We can't just let this slide."

"We have to. It's up to the school to decide what to do with her. We can report anything we see her do, but we aren't allowed to take direct action against her," Mind Palace replied. He pushed up his glasses. "We, sadly, have to stand by. No hero work."

* * *

School ended, and the Service Club went there separate ways for the day. Hours passed, and, for a time, the school was lifeless except for a few guards, the night laying undisturbed.

Then, a figure darted across the road in front of the school. Dressed in a dark blue jacket with the hood turned up, the figure stealthily made it's way through the school's front grounds. Crouching behind the statue (famous for its role as a supposed portal to another dimension), the figure took out a phone from the messenger bag it had. Connecting to the school's wifi, the figure pressed a button marked 'SCAN' on the phone's screen. After a minute or so, several numbers were listed on the screen. The figure then pressed the button marked 'DEACTIVATE'.

Around the school, security camera lights blinked off. Putting the phone back, the figure ran up to the school's entrance, knowing it wouldn't take long for the school's guards to realize that they're screens were fine and that it was the cameras that were off. Picking the lock to the entrance (three tumblers: child's play.), the figure entered the school, closing the doors behind itself. Running through the halls as quietly as possible, the figure finally found the door marked 'Principal's Office".

Opening the door (slightly harder to pick, but still doable), the figure took out a laptop from it's bag. Connecting a cable from the laptop to the Principal's computer, the laptop prompted it for a password. After an hour, the laptop's brute force program cracked the password (interestingly, the password was 'Luna my Love'. The figure decided to investigate further when it had the time.), and the principal's files were it's for the taking. As the figure searched through the files, it found what it was looking for: the file titled 'Student profile: Chrysalis 'Queen' Quinessa'

As the files copied to it's computer, the faint glow of the screen illuminated the figures face, which had a smug smile on it.

"No, Chrysalis, Flame won't regret making an enemy of you. You'll regret threatening my friend," said Mind Palace, pushing up his glasses.


	5. Chapter 5

The three other members of the Service Club watched in awe as Frosty Frost played _Dark Souls_ , one of his favorite video games, on the computer.

Frosty Frost always liked video games. As a little kid, little hand-held consoles used up most of his time. His childhood memories were filled with captured monsters and slain beasts and solved puzzles. As personal computers became more affordable and higher quality, the games available on them inevitably also captured his interest.

Video games were a way for him to challenge himself. Each game required different skills, each of them having little quirks one had to master. Whether it was quick reflexes or strategic thought, each video game, like an art, had to be practiced for one to master it.

The one he was currently playing was one of his favorites. _Dark Souls_ was a game notorious for being extremely difficult. It required excellent pattern recognition and timing skills, and even then required hours of practice for anyone to be even half-decent at it. The bosses especially had hard hitting attacks and large health bars, making even a few mistakes unforgivable. Which is why what he was doing right now was so impressive.

Mind Palace, Icy Fire, and Summer Breeze all watched Frost's amazing display of skill. He dodged every attack of the massive, demon-like figure in front of his character, seeming to know when and how the beast was going to attack before it even moved, as he himself struck at every opportunity, quickly and efficiently. A few minutes later, and the beast lay unmoving on the screen.

Hitting the pause button, Frost looked up to the three other faces around him. As Summer smiled and placed a small kiss on his head, Mind Palace and Icy Fire looked deep in thought.

"Flame, what do you think? Natural ability, or practice?" asked Mind Palace, turning to the blue-haired girl beside him.

"Probably a healthy mix of both, in my opinion. Having just one or the other wouldn't translate to that level of prowess," Icy Fire replied, twirling her hair.

Frost, getting up to stretch, smiled. "I'm sure all of you are pretty good at video games as well," he said. And he did really believe it. He knew the three people he was looking at were amazing people, even if they didn't know it. Their intelligence, combined with their natural nerdy personalities, should translate well into the gaming world, the same way it did for him.

Surprisingly, all three of them shook their heads. "I'm not really that good at them. I don't really play them all that much," said Icy Fire. She had dabbled in a few, but she was average at best, in her opinion.

Next to speak was Mind Palace. "I'm okay at them, but that's mostly from reading the best strategies. I'm terrible at adapting to quick events. I never know what to do when I'm overwhelmed," he said. He was best at games that gave him some time to think things through. He was terrible at making split decisions.

Summer Breeze just smiled. When she had Frosty had started dating, one of the first things they did, and one thing they still do, was play video games together. It became quickly became clear to her that Frosty was one of the best. It was rare that she ever beat him.

Frosty smiled at their reaction. He realized that he hadn't seen Icy Fire or Mind Palace play any video games before. He wondered how well they played and thought it would be interesting to see them in action.

He then realized that this was a very good idea.

Frost turned to Mind Palace. "Mp, you can hook up those screens to any PC, right?" he asked, pointing to the nine screens on the wall of the room, currently displaying news and graphs.

"Sure," MP replied. "I can connect the screens to any laptop, as well as these desktops."

"Perfect. Could you connect them to the Windows PC? Oh, and you have a laptop, don't you?

* * *

After class the next day, they all arrived at Mind Palace's house. As they entered the Book Room, they saw the changes Mind Palace had applied. The long table at the center of the room, originally being perpendicular to the nine screens, was now parallel to it, and the two computers, originally facing away from each other, were now next to each other. The nine screens were connected to the computer on the left and were showing a live copy of the computer's screen.

Walking up to the left computer, Frosty logged into his gaming account. "Yesterday, I realized it would be pretty cool to see you all try out some of my favorite video games. After all, you've all seen me play, but I've barely seen you all do so. I thought of some video games for you all to try out, and at the end of it all, I thought we could all play some," he said as he motioned for the first player to sit down. "Let's see how well you all do."

* * *

First up was a strategy game. They all played a game of _StarCraft II_ against moderately difficult A.I. The first player was Icy Fire. She did moderately well, managing her troops and resources efficiently. She picked a good time to attack the enemy and, eventually, won the match, though her army was pretty damaged by the time it was over.

Next up was Summer Breeze. She didn't manage her resources as well, often forgetting to spend them, wasting precious seconds inefficiently training troops. However, when the battles started, she made up for it. She was able to switch her attention extremely quickly, jumping from sets of units to sets of units, directing each of them. This allowed her to use tactics that were much more creative and complex than the one Flame had used. In the end, Summer also won, and her army was quite healthy at the end of it.

Then, it was Mind Palace's turn. He did the best. Frost had expected this, as this was his type of game. From the start, Mind Palace was already thinking about the battles soon to come, and how he would win them. He managed his resources well and used straightforward but clever tactics against the enemy, luring them into battles that seemed like they would easily win with cheap, tanky troops, then flanking them with his main, damage dealing filled army. He won the game the quickest, finding a good opportunity to attack the enemy base after said enemy lost another skirmish that left the base lacking in defenses.

* * *

The next game was a puzzle game, called _Portal_. Frost had picked a few community-made rooms for them to play, and they competed to see who could complete them the fastest.

First up was Summer Breeze. She took her time and solved the puzzles by randomly testing everything out and respawning several times until inspiration struck her and she found the solution. She also did the best at the more activity and movement-based puzzles. Eventually, she finished with a decent time.

Next was Mind Palace. At the beginning of every room, he paused for a moment and analyzed every element in the room, planning out the possible solution in his head. A few tests and adjustments to the plan later, and he often arrived at the solution. The problem was when the puzzle was confusing, and the solution was one that was hidden from plain sight, Mind Palace often couldn't solve it quickly. Because of this, when he was done, his overall time was slightly slower than Summer's.

Then, it was Icy Fire's turn. She completed the puzzles in no time at all. Every solution just came to her, after a few seconds of walking around at looking at everything. For her, it didn't seem that big of a deal. The solutions just made sense after a while. To the other three, it seemed like magic, her brain working impossibly fast and finding the solution extremely quickly. Even the most complicated room, one where the solution was obscure and hidden, she just looked around, saw something, said a small "Oh," and put everything together. Her final time was amazingly fast, being many minutes ahead of Summer Breeze and Mind Palace's times.

* * *

The next game was one that was deceptively simple, a browser-based game called _Little Alchemy_ , where the object of the game was to combine the Air, Water, Earth, and Fire to form all sorts of things. Frost gave them all a time limit, and they were scored based on how many items each of them had discovered when the time was up.

Mind Palace was first and he did terribly. After the first few obvious items, he had no idea how to proceed. He clicked around randomly, hoping for something to work until the time was over. He discovered no more than a few items.

Next was Icy Fire. She did well, her scientific knowledge mixed with her artistic creativity giving her a good advantage. She discovered the items fairly quickly, and when the time ran out had discovered quite a lot.

Then, it was Summer's turn. She did amazingly well. She was amazing at coming up with ideas and testing them, similar to how she approached _Portal_. Her brain was amazingly suited to coming up with dozens of ideas, each of them interesting and unique, and that gave her a massive advantage in this game. Even before she had finished coming up with one item, she was already thinking about what items she would mix discovered more and more, and when the time was up, the amount of items she had discovered was far more than Mind Palace and Icy Fire's amounts.

* * *

Finally, the time came to play some _Team Fortress 2_. Mind Palace brought out his laptop, and Frosty pulled out the laptop he had brought from his bag. After a bit of set up, they were ready to play.

"We should play Man vs Machine, as we can work together with that one. It's pretty simple: imagine tower defense games, but the towers are us, and we're fighting robots," said Flame, as they were choosing their classes. Icy Fire chose a class she was relatively comfortable with, the Heavy. Mind Palace played the Engineer, a class he was pretty experienced with, and one that was valuable in the tower defense-like gamemode. Summer played the Scout, a class suited to her active nature. Frost chose to start with Medic.

The game started, and they each played their role. Mind Palace positioned his Sentry Gun where it could fire at enemies, but me safe from quite a few of them. He also placed his Dispenser where his teammates could reach it if they needed ammo or extra healing. When he wasn't busy repairing his machines, he used his shotgun to fire at the mass of robots.

Icy Fire firing her Minigun at the horde of robots. She dispensed huge amounts of damage, nearly matching Mind Palace's sentry gun in terms of how many robots she killed. She was also the main defense of the team, soaking up massive amounts of damage, thanks to her class's large amount of health.

Summer Breeze ran around, dodging and weaving around the attacks that came to her, avoiding bullets and rockets. She constantly flanked the mass of robots, firing here and there, all the while collecting dropped points to upgrade her team's weapons and abilities.

Frost, however, did the most out of them. After all, he was the best gamer out of all of them. He was able to analyze everything, in the way only a gamer could. All that info, all that data, made it's way into his head, got processed, and made it's way into his hands. As a medic, he single-handedly kept the entire team alive. His brain knew exactly when to switch from healing Icy Fire to healing Summer Breeze. He knew what type of medigun to use, and when to use the Ubercharge. All that data, seemingly chaotic, made so much sense to him. Several times, each of the members thought they would die, only to see their health bars begin to replenish, keeping them in the fight. A few times, the members actually died, the robots overwhelming them. Nearly every time, Frost was there to resurrect them.

After it all, the group cheered and high-fived, as the announcer's voice said those words, the words that every gamer lived for. Sometimes it was worded differently, sometimes it was more than a word, but it was always the same. It was something present in every game, and the pursuit of it was the basis of most games that existed. It wasn't as important as having fun, but it was definitely something that everyone wouldn't mind having. Best of all, it was something that each of the members of the Service Club today had experienced, and, with that last match, it was something they had achieved together:

"Victory!"

* * *

Later that night, Mind Palace was pacing in his room. He was beginning to see that his recent break in at CHS to get Chrysalis' files were emotional and rash. He could have been caught. He might still be caught if his hack wasn't as stealthy as he thought it was. After all, he was okay at it, but he was by no means an expert at the art. Most of the programs he used were simply taken off the internet, which he then modified himself.

Still, he had the files. He had already begun to build a basic bio of Chrysalis, along with a few of her possible weaknesses. It was simple and crude, but knowledge was power, and it would be unwise to dismiss any information he could obtain. He looked over his desk, thinking of possible ways to gain an advantage over Chrysalis. A safeguard, in case she threatened his friends again.

Then, it hit him. People's biggest weakness were their friends. If Mind Palace could become her friend, then she would never expect him to turn on her. If she threatened his friends again, then he would be able to do something about it, without her ever expecting it.

Mind Palace reviewed the bio of Chrysalis he had created. The girl made a habit of socializing with the rich and powerful. She enjoyed her high lifestyle. After all, she was arrogant to make her nickname "Queen".

He opened his wardrobe, searching for his blazer. It was time for a change in style, and maybe to be a bit more social than he usually was.


End file.
